The Transformative Power of God’s Word

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Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, September 22nd. The Bible is unlike any book ever written. Let’s begin an eight-session series to learn about the origins and significance of the Bible, the book of books.

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Behind everything that God does, there’s a divine purpose. Sometimes those purposes are very clear. Sometimes they’re almost mysterious. God, what are you up to in my life? So sometimes they seem to leave us hopelessly, helplessly wondering, Lord, what are you up to? But there’s one thing for absolute certain. He has made it very clear in the Bible why He gave us this book. Why did God give us this book we call the eternal Word of God, this infallible? Inerrant, eternal word of the living God, penned by some 40 men over a period of almost 1,600 years, from different vocations in life, from three different continents, and yet, even though written for some 1,600 years, no inconsistencies, no contradictions whatsoever, one central theme from Genesis to Revelation, absolutely inexhaustible in its depth of meaning and absolutely indestructible in its presence and always on the best sellers list in the marketplace no matter what why did god give us this book we call the holy bible they come in all kinds of versions And yet, in essence, it is simply the living word of the living God. Why did he give it to us? Well, that’s what I want to talk about in this message. And I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3, the apostle Paul writing to Timothy tells us exactly why he gives us his word. And you will recall that one of the major problems that the Apostle Paul had after he established his churches was the fact that deceivers, that is, he says, evil workers, those who did not know the truth, would slip in and try to cause all kind of confusion by preaching all kinds of false doctrine. And so he says to Timothy here, beginning in verse 13, “…but evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however,” speaking to Timothy, “…continue in the things you’ve learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.” and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness or training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” Well, you’ll notice something that the Apostle Paul says here in this 16th verse. He says, Now, when he says something is profitable, that is certainly a word that gets Americans’ attention. What’s profitable? That is, something that’s profitable means I’m going to gain something from it. I’m going to benefit from it in some way. And so he says, the Word of God is profitable to us. Now, I want you to turn, if you will, to Luke chapter 11, because before we start talking about what this is all about, I want us to see what Jesus said in this 11th chapter of Luke about the Word of God, because the Word of God is profitable. If it’s not profitable, we’d be wasting our time listening or reading it or trying to apply it to our life. Luke 11, verse 28 says, Jesus speaking, but he said, On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. Not just hear it, but he says also, he says hear it and observe it. Now, how do I know when a person is profiting from the word or not? Well, somebody says, well, how do I profit from the word? Well, let me say first of all, that owning a Bible does not mean that you profit from it. Secondly, carrying it with you does not mean that you profit from it. In fact, you could have a whole stack of Bibles. NASB, New King James, King James, NIV, NE, you just name it. BBBB, we’ve got all kinds of translations. And you know what? None of them are profitable unless three things are true. First of all, that I read it or listen to it. Secondly, that I believe what I read and hear. And thirdly, that I apply it to my heart or obey it. You can read it all you want to, but if you don’t believe it and you don’t obey it, you’re not going to profit. If I’m going to profit from the Word of God, it isn’t enough to own it, to carry it with me, to have different translations. Read it, believe it, and obey it. And so when we come to ask the question, why did God give us the Scriptures? There are some very, very definite reasons He gives us here. So I’m going to give you these reasons, and I want you to give them back to me in a few moments. But the first one is very clear. When you and I begin to examine the Scriptures and we think, well, you know, this Bible goes from Genesis to Revelation. It talks about many things. As we’ve said before, the ultimate, final, and the central theme of the Scripture is the fact this is the story of God’s redeeming love for mankind. He’s reaching out, and what we have is the history of how He’s done that. Now, so when we come to this whole idea of why, why did He give it to us? The first reason is this. The primary and first reason He gave us the Scriptures is to lead us into salvation. The primary and first reason He gave us the Bible is to lead us to salvation. We would not know of our sinfulness were it not for the Word of God. Secondly, we would not know that God desires to save us from our sins and to give us heaven as a home were it not for the Word of God. How would I know apart from the word of God that God has provided for our forgiveness through the death of his son Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary? I would not know that. He says in Romans chapter 5 that Jesus Christ died for our sins in verses 5 and 6. In verse 10 he says that Jesus Christ through his death at Calvary reached out and did what? He reconciled us unto himself. How would I know? that when Jesus Christ went to the cross he took care of my guilt forever how would I know that he reached out to reconcile me unto himself how would I know that if I confess my sins that he’s faithful and just to forgive me of my sins how would I know how to be saved apart from this book you absolutely would not know it everything we know about salvation all of our security is wrapped up in the fact that you and I believe the testimony the infallible inerrant testimony of the living word of the living God The first reason God gave us this book is to do what? Lead us into salvation. First reason, most important reason, because this book is all about God. It is all about the person of Jesus Christ. Now, what is the second reason for which He gave us this book? The second reason for which He gave us this book is to lead us into a godly life. God is not simply satisfied with our being saved. He says, in fact, He predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. He wants us to live a godly life. Now, what is a godly life? A godly life… is a life in by which you and I live submissive to the will of the Lord, submissive to the Holy Spirit, yielded to Him. It is a life yielded and surrendered to Him. It is what we call walking in the will of God. Now, I want you to notice, if you will, in this 16th verse what he says, because he gives us four aspects of living a godly life here. Notice, if you will. Verse 16, all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. That is, we gain, we profit from it. Listen, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Now, when he says for teaching, what he’s talking about, I believe, here is like those great basic truths of the Scripture, doctrine, for example. Amen. Now, probably one of the greatest weaknesses of the church today is that so many times people go to church for years and years and years and they’re never taught the doctrines. What are the doctrines I’m talking about? I’m talking about the basic, listen, the basic fundamental truths of the things that you and I believe. What does the Bible teach about salvation and how to be saved and our eternal security? What does the Bible teach about God? What does the Bible teach about His mercy, His justice, His wrath, His goodness, His kindness toward us? What does the Bible teach about Jesus, His incarnation, His virgin birth? What does the Bible teach about His life here on earth and His death at Calvary and all that is meant in that and the power of the resurrection and His coming again? What does the Bible teach about the Holy Spirit and His place in our life, indwelling us, empowering us, teaching us, comforting us, and all the things that we were inadequate to do, God sent Him to do in our behalf? What does the Bible teach about all these things? Well, so many people live their whole life and they go through their Christian life and the basic fundamental truths, the things that establish them, the things that anchor them so when the storms of life come, they don’t get blown off course. They’re able to face persecution, difficulty, hardship and trial, tribulations, things they can’t change, things they can’t fix. Face them, move on, never lose heart, never run away. Face them squarely and keep moving to the glory of God. Why? Because they’re established in the truth of God’s Word. If you don’t have a grid system in your thinking, if you don’t have a grid system in your mind, if you don’t have a grid system in your spirit that can detect error, you will be drawn away into all kinds of erroneous things. Now, for example, if I were a lost person, Somebody knocked on my door, said, we just came to tell you some good news. What’s that good news? We came to tell you some good news about God. And we are his representatives. And more than likely, you’ve been to church and you’ve heard there’s a heaven and a hell. We want to tell you the good news is the heaven and the good news also, there is no such thing as a hell. If I’m lost and hell bound, you know what I’m going to do? Come on in. Come on in because I want to hear that. I want to hear something that may not be the truth, but if it makes me feel good, but if I’ve been taught and instructed in the Word of God and I’ve been in the Word of God, then I know you may tell me there’s no hell, but God tells me there is. You’re not going to judge me. He is. I’m going with Him. So it’s very important that you and I… very important that you and I be instructed in the things of God. And that’s how the cults do what they do. They find people who are not instructed in the ways of God. So when he says, listen, he says, the word of God was given to us, not only to lead us into salvation, but to lead us into a godly life. And I’m going to live a godly life. I’ve got to know this God and the basic truths. The second thing you’ll notice he says in this passage is this, He says, all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, that is, the doctrines, for reproof. Now, what does he mean by reproof? Simply this, conviction. That is, it’s one thing for me to know the truth, but you know what? The truth is, we’re not all going to live in the truth all the time. We are going to sin against God. Why? Because we still have this naturalness. We still have our five senses. And we live in a world that is absolutely in opposition to God. Everywhere we turn, there are demonic forces, Satan and all of his angelic hosts out here trying to destroy the work of God, dividing it, persecuting Christians. You name it, that’s what’s going on. So is God being mean and ugly by convicting us of sin? No, that’s God expressing his love toward us. He sees us over here getting wayward and getting out of his will. What does he do? What happens? He has placed within us an alarm system, and it goes off. The Spirit of God triggers that alarm. This is not right. This is not the will of God. This is not where God… The best is over here. So what does He do? He does exactly what He promises. He gives us, the Bible says, the Holy Spirit, and He gives us spirit that will convict us and make us feel uncomfortable and not able to live with ourselves until we get right with God. That is not God’s anger. It is God’s love. Turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Look, if you will. This is the power of the Word of God to convict us. And as I say, conviction of sin is the love of God. What’s He doing? He’s attempting to build a godly life, and therefore He’s not going to let us get by with it. Look, if you will, in chapter 4, verse 12. He’s describing the Word of God. Look at this. For the Word of God is living. There’s nothing dead about this book. It’s living. active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and Mara and able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart why did he say all that simply this that God’s Word reaches down in the innermost being of a person and touches their spirit and Exposes the good and the evil and shows us when we are wrong. Now. Here’s what I noticed. I I don’t know of anybody who’s in the Word constantly, praying and seeking the mind of God, who is continually living in sin. Because the Word of God convicts us. It’s like a, listen, it is not only like a hammer and a pruning knife and fire, but even before it is those, you know what God does? Here’s what it is. He just puts the mirror right in front of our face and says, aha, what’s that? And so the Bible is like a mirror. It reveals to us the truth of what we are like. This is a powerful book. Nothing ever written is as powerful as this because this is the mind of God put in print so that we understand. And nobody’s ever come to me and said, well, is this right? Or is this wrong? Or what about this? Or what about that? You know what? Somewhere in the word of God, the answer is there. And so, his primary reason for giving us the Bible, it is in the salvation. Secondly, it leads to a godly life. And what’s involved in that? First of all, he says, studying and understanding doctrine. The second thing he says is conviction, reproof. The third is correction. God isn’t just satisfied with saying, that’s wrong. You need to correct that. He is also interested in showing us how to correct it. How do we correct these things in our life that are not right? He says for correction. You know what? You can put every diamond that’s ever been mine, put it on one side, put one copy of the word of God. You know what weighs the most? This. All those diamonds won’t get you into heaven. You can go to hell with every one of them. With this, you go to heaven. And you know, this will keep you out of hell. You can have everything the world has to offer and die and go to hell. If you’ve got this in your heart, you go into heaven. When he says, treasure it in your heart. Thy word have I treasured in my heart. Why? That I may not sin against God because I want to live a godly life. Look in the same Psalm 119. Look in verse 105. 105th verse. You see, God doesn’t just tell us, to correct our life. But he says, here’s the way you do it. Treasure God’s word in your heart. Look if you will in verse 105. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Here’s what he says. He says, you want to live a godly life? Here’s what you do. Whatever God says, you just do what he says. And you know one thing I know for sure? I may get real close over here, but I’m not going off the cliff. But you know what I can do? I can take this and lay it up and ignore it. You know what? I’m going to fall off a cliff sooner or later. He says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. He said, thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path. He says, if I follow its path, I live a godly life. Here’s what he said in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, and you know this by heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him. How am I going to acknowledge God? Find out what He says. I’m going to do what He says. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy path. You know what? Either God’s going to direct my path, or I’m going to direct it. Listen, when I get in charge, I become the pilot. I’m at the wheel. You know what? I run on the rocks every time. You can’t live a godly life apart from this book. You cannot. I mean, anybody who tells me they can’t, then they have missed the, they don’t even know what a godly life is. Why did he give us this? He gave it to us, listen, to teach us those basic foundational truths and to convict us of sin and then to give us correction. He says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against him. What’s the purpose of this book? Lead us into a godly life. And so he says, if we treasure it in our heart, follow it like a lamp, depend upon the indwelling Holy Spirit to interpret it for us, which He will. He says we’ll live a godly life. But notice something else he says here, back to 2 Timothy now, chapter 3. Notice what he says here. He says, Now, what does he mean by that? Well, you could put all of these in that section if you wanted to, but I think it’s different here. Listen. Listen. How am I going to grow as a Christian if I don’t know the principles by which to live? Now, I can tell you this. With all of my heart, as humbly as I know, I can tell you. I don’t know of anything that makes me want to weep more as a pastor as this. When I think of the millions of people who go to church week after week after week, they listen to sermons. They never hear sermons. They never grasp the principles. They hear, don’t do this and do that and do the other and so forth. But most Christians will go through their whole Christian life. They will never hear the principles that make the Christian life work for them. And so you know what they’ll do? They’ll do what they’ve heard or what they sort of know to do, and that is try. And you know, I hear people say, well, I do the best I can. I try the best I can. We don’t have to try to do this ourselves because we have someone inside of us who will do it. Look at this. This is Paul’s prayer, and he says in verse 14 of chapter 3 of Ephesians, Listen to this. His desire that you and I live a godly life is such that he’s given us these basic truths, convicts us of sin by the Holy Spirit and through his word. And listen, and he says he will enable us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to understand his word. And listen, to understand it so that when he gives me a sense of direction, I know exactly what to do. And not only that, he will enable us and strengthen us to obey the word of God.

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Thank you for listening to God’s Great Purpose. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.